Machine for grinding and surfacing stones



April WW0 E. H. TRYSELIL.

MACHINE FOR GRINDING AND SURFACING STONES Filed Aug. 6, 193]. '2 Sheets-Sheet l In I? R w w W. 9 G? E 4% w LtLkwlw w w y Q a]. 5 1 A, I W 1 n1 1 J L E M V 2 h M g a L SL A T v k m m m w F F'? wwgm April] 7, 11%& IE. H. TRYSIELL MACHINE FOR GRINDING AND SURFACING STONES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 6, 1951 Patented Apr. 7, 1 936 STATES PATENT FFl-CE Ernest H. irysell, Ferndale, Mich.

Application August 6,

6 Claims.

ll/fy invention relates to a stone grinding and surfacing machine and particularly to a mechanical method for grinding and surfacing stones to have true level and polished faces.

The faces produced by my machine are essentially plane surfaces. Almost any kind of stone may be smoothed down by the machine, but the harder the stone to be surfaced, the greater the value of the machine; and in consequence, the invention will be of greatest value and most use in surfacing granite. Rough blocks of stone, as taken from the quarry, may be placed in the machine and surfaced ready for polishing without any hand labor except for that involved in bringing the stone into position in the machine and removing the finished stone therefrom.

The stones, placed in the machine to be simultaneously surfaced, may be of varying sizes, shapes, texture and hardness, the machine being able to handle dissimilar stones at the same time.

In most stone surfacing machines it is necessary to bed the stones in place, whereas my machine does away with this bothersome process as stones are held in place by mechanical chucks. The stones are moved'over a grinding material by mechanical means and without manual labor, in such manner as to prevent the stones from remaining stationary during the surfacing process. The movements of stones are so controlled that the wear on the grinding surface itself is uniform over its grinding area.

The machine requires the attention of two men and the stones can be surface-d with such speed that while the one man is kept continuously busy placing stones in the machine, the other man is inspecting and removing finished stones.

The mechanical parts of the machine, such as gears, machined wearing and bearing surfaces, are protected against stone grindings and abrasive material.

The invention covers, in particular, a machine by which stones, placed in the machine, are themselves applied to a level, horizontal, and rotating grinding surface. The stones are moved in a horizontally described are over the grinding surface, each stone being applied under a definitely controlled pressure against the grinding surface. Water and, abrasive compounds are fed onto the grinding surface while the machine is in operation. The Whole operation is automatic except for the placing of the rough stones in the machine and for removing finished stones from the machine. In most stone grinding machinery, the grinding wheel, tool or surface is applied to the stone whereas in my machine the process is rell931, Serial No. 555,476

versed and the stones are applied under perfect automatic control and pressure, to the grinding surface.

A plurality of stones may be surfaced simultaneously on my machine. The form of machine indicated by the drawings illustrates four chucks, each supporting a stone to be operated upon simultaneously. It is to be understood that a greater or lesser number of the chucks may be employed.

The main objects of my invention are: to provide a mechanical method of grinding and surfacing stones which produces true and level plane surfaces thereon; to provide a method by which no manual labor is required in actual cutting or grinding down the stones from the time the stones are received from the quarry until they are ready for polishing; to provide a method for surfacing stones which eliminates the expensive and timetaking trouble of bedding down the stones; to provide a machine for grinding and surfacing a plurality of stones simultaneously whether or not the stones are of different size, hardness or shape or of different textures and roughness; to provide a machine which speeds up production, which relieves stone workmen from considerable strenuous labor and which lowers the production cost of finished stones, particularly of surfaced granite; to provide a machine which is simple in construction and operation, which has but few gears and machined surfaces, and which has the mechanical parts housed and protected against the entrance of abrasive materials, stone chips and other abrading substances.

Other objects and features of my invention will be either specifically pointed out or will become apparent when referring, for a better understanding of my invention to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure I is an elevational view of the machine embodying my invention;

Fig. II is a plan view of the machine as it appears looking down from a horizontal plane or a section taken at A-A as indicated in Fig. I;

Fig. 'III is an isometric view of part of the grinding surface and its support;

Fig. IV is an isometric view of a column base;

Fig. V is an isometric view to show the comattachments and supports at upper part of main driving shaft of machine, a right angle section being taken as indicated by line B-B in plan view of attachments as shown by Fig. VII;

Fig. VII is a sectional View taken as indicated by line -0 in Fig. VI;

Fig. VIII is an isometric view of levers, connecting rods and attachments to indicate the manner of movements of the parts which propel the chuck arms which hold the stones.

Similar numerals or letters of the alphabet refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The motor M is connected to drive the center shaft I of the machine. The motor M is shown located on a cross beam 2 but its method of connection for driving shaft I is not shown in detail as standard methods of gearing, clutching, speed regulation will be employed. The shaft I is held in true vertical position by being supported at the top by the cross beam 2 in a roller bearing 3, as illustrated in Fig. VI. The lower end of the shaft I is supported in the base by a housed thrust bearing 4. Clamped to the shaft I, at the lower end and above the floor line, are supports and G which form a radial support for the grinding ring I when clamped together and bolted. The grinding ring I is made of metal and is concentric with its supports 5 and 6 and with the shaft I with which it rotates in timed relation. The shaft I is disposed normal to the horizontal grinding surface of the ring I. This surface is disposed about twenty inches from the floor line, but may be higher or lower, as desired, and can be adjusted by moving the supports 5 and 3 up or down on the shaft I. The shaft I can be slid up out of thrust bearing 4, when the ring I is to be installed or removed, after a bevel gear 8, at the top of the shaft I, has first been loosened.

The mechanism required to move stones over the grinding disk I requires a number of gears and rods. Power is received from shaft I through the bevel gear 8 which is fastened securely to the shaft. A gear 9 meshes with the gear 8 and turns a shaft Ill. The shaft ID has a bearing II at one end and at the other end it is bearinged in a worm drive housing built upon the cross beam 2. The worm is located on the shaft I8 and the worm wheel I2 of Fig. I, and is rotated in counter-clockwise direction. A shaft I3 is keyed to the worm wheel I2 and has bearings in the worm wheel housing. At each end of the shaft I3 are to be found similar lever arms I4 and I5. As illustrated in Fig. VIII, the lever arm I4 operates on one side of the beam 2, while the arm I5 operates on the other side of the beam 2. Attached to the ends of arms I4 and I5 are connecting rods I6 and II, respectively, which are connected to lever arms I 3 and I3 at their other ends. The connections at both ends of rods I8 and Ill are preferably by ball or universal joints. The lever arms I8 and I9 are rigidly secured to the sleeves or cylinders 28 and 2|, respectively. The cylinders 28 and 2| are mounted on a cylinder 22 which is concentrically disposed on the shaft I.

The cylinder 22 fits loosely on shaft I and is fastened by its top flange securely to beam 2. The cylinders 28 and 2| are prevented from sliding off cylinder 22 by collar 22A which is held securely to the bottom of cylinder 22. See Fig. VI.

On the cylinder 28 are two other arms in addition to the arm I8; these arms are numbered 24 and 26. Likewise on the cylinder 2| are also two arms similar to arms 24 and 26 and are numbered 23 and 25. The arms 23 and 25, and arms 24 and 26 have four prongs each for catching and holding the swing rods 2'! and 29 and 28 and 30, respectively. The other ends of the swing rods 2'5 and 29, and 28 and 38 are connected to pins in the chuck arms 3| and 33 and 32 and 34, respectively. The chuck arms 3| and 33, and 32 and 34 center and swing horizontally from the columns 35 and 31 and 36 and 38, respectively. Attached to the swinging ends of the chuck arms 3| and 33, and 32 and 34 are chucks for holding the stones to be surfaced. These chucks are numbered 4|, 43, 42 and 44 respectively. The

action of the various arms and rods for moving the chucks with their stone loads is shown in Fig. VIII.

The shaft I3 moves counter-clockwise and moves the lever arm I4 therewith. As a result the connecting rod I5 is given a pushing and pulling motion. The end of the rod I6 at the lever arm describes a circle in a vertical plane parallel with the worm wheel I2, while the other end of the rod I3 describes an arc horizontally and parallel to the grinding ring I. moved with its connecting arm I8 corresponding to the push and pull movements of the rod I6. The cylinder 28 effects the movement of the arms 24 and 26 which in turn pull and push on the swing rods 28 and 38, respectively, which in turn push and pull on the chuck arms 32 and 34, respectively. The chuck arms 32 and 34 carrying the chucks 42 and 44, respectively, swing on an are about the columns 36 and 38, respectively.

In a similar manner, the lever arms I5 operate to swing the stones in the chuck arms 4| and 43 in an arc about their pillars. The connection is such that the chucks 43 and 44 are moving outwardly from the center of the machine, while the chucks 4| and 43 are moving inwardly toward the center and vice versa.

The columns 35, 31, 36 and 38 constitute the four corner vertical supports of the machine as well as the support for the chuck arms 3|, 33, 32 and 34, respectively, which are permitted to swing thereabout and to move vertically thereon. The columns 35, 31, 38 and 38 are provided with bases 39, 45, and 48, respectively. The columns are press fitted in the bases and the bases are supported on a concrete foundation. bases are illustrated in Figs IV and V, columns 35 and 3'5 being illustrated in Fig. IV, while columns 38 and 36 are illustrated in Fig. V. The bases 48 and 46 serve as supports for the end of the cross beam 2. The tops of the columns 35, 31, 33 and 38 are provided with caps 41, 49, 48 and 56, respectively, and are rigidly tied together by the steel I-beam frame work 5| to which the caps are bolted. In this manner the colunms are securely held at the base and top.

The main driving shaft is supported vertically in the bearing 3 supported in the cross beam 2 at the top and in the housed thrust bearing 4 at the bottom which is anchored in the concrete foundation.

The operation of the chuck arms on the column 38 will now be described, it being understood that the operation of the arms on the other columns 35, 36 and 31 is the same. The pulley 52 is mounted in the cap of the column 38 through which a cable 53 extends. The cable is secured to the chuck arm 34 at one end, while adjustable weights W are provided on the other end. Extending from the cap 58 is a slotted arm 54 supoprting an arm 55 for universal movement.

The cylinder 28 is a The r;

The arm supports a hook 56 which extends over the chuck arm t l and supports a chain hoist 5i which is connected to the chuck arm 34 at a point in vertical alignment with the chuck arms center of gravity. The hook 56 is also pivoted to the cap til. The stone to be surfaced is placed on the leveling table adjacent to the column and the lower surface is adjusted to have the plane to be surfaced disposed horizontally. The chuck arm 3 is swung about the column 38 over the stone on the leveling table and is lowered by means of the hoist iii over the stone. The chuck M is then adjusted to clamp the stone and to support it in the position it was disposed on the table. The hoist ill then raises the chuck arm which is swung over the abrading ring l. The weights W are adjusted on the cable 53 to substantially balance the weight of the stone, chuck and chuck arm. The arm is connected to the swing arm 3i and an oscillating motion is immediately imparted to the chuck arm. The chain hoist 57 is then adjusted and the weights W are changed-to permit the stone to bear on the grinding ring i with a predetermined abrading pressure. During the operation of the machine, sand, steel pellets or shot and the like of proper size is disposed on the grinding ring I and water is added thereto. This abrading material carried by the ring l causes the wear on the stones.

When the stone is to be removed, the hoist 5'! is operated to raise the arm which is unhocked from the swing arm 3d so that the swing arm may be swung over a truck or the leveling table. The chuck arms on the columns til, 36 and Si operate in the same manner as that described relative to the column 38, each chuck arm being individually and independently adjustable. For this reason, stones which vary in size, shape and roughness, as well as stones of different hardness of material, can be placed in the machines and operated at the same time.

By attaching several chucks to each arm, several stones of the same material can be placed on each chuck arm for rough grinding or a single larger stone can be supported thereby. The chucks support the stone on the grinding wheel 7 in the same position as that when leveled on the table. The length of swing of the chuck arms may be adjusted through the selective adjustment of the swing arms 21!, 28, 29 and til with the chuck arm pins, the swing arms being provided with a plurality of apertures which are engageable with the pins. The position of the arms 23, 2t, 25 and 2% is adjusted through the connection of the opposite ends of the swing arms with one of a plurality of pins provided thereon.

By increasing the weights W, the pressure of the stone on the grinding ring l is reduced. By decreasing the weights W, the pressure is increased and by this means a definite method of controlling the amount of wear on the stones is obtained. The hoist iil may be set to prevent the stone from wearing down beyond a predef termined plane.

The abrasive compound and water are fed to the ring ll mechanically and automatically from overhead containers (not shown) on supports M. The steel, sand and water may be mixed and shoveled by hand onto the grinding ring and the water added by a hose or spray.

As the ring rotates, the centrifugal force causes the abrasive compound, the water and the stone particles to be ejected from the outer edge of the ring l. This material is thrown against a shield 58 disposed about the outer peripheral edge of the ring. The shield comprises a plurality of arcuate sheet metal strips which form a ring when disposed about the ring 5. The shield 58 is disposed slightly below the surface of the ring l and may be lowered as the surface of the ring becomes worn.

Within the base of the machine a concrete trough is provided to receive the water, abrasive material and the stone residue as it is deflected therein by the shield 58. The trough is provided on a slope so that the material flows therefrom into a catch basin disposed outwardly from the base of the machine. The water and stone resi due are drained from the basin and the steel or shot is removed and again employed on the grinding ring for ahrading the stones.

A ring 1 is employed in preference to a disc so that the surface will be uniformly abraded and therefore retained even and in a horizontal plane. This even wear is effected by the movement of the stone beyond the inner and outer peripheral edge of the ring and by maintaining a uniform time of engagement between the stones and the ring.

To protect the machined surfaces of the columns 35, 3t, 37! and 38 from the water and the abrasive materials, a waterproof cloth or fabric may be disposed loosely thereabout. The fabric is loosely disposed about a column extending from the bottom of the chuck arm to the top of the base it upon which the column 33 rests. The cloth is of sufiilcient length to permit the chuck arm to move up and down on the column. A similar piece of fabric may likewise be disposed about the other columns 35, 36 and 37.

The chucks ii, 42, i3 and M are of the box type having two sets of adjustable faces disposed to form a rectangle. Several of these chucks may be secured to a chuck arm and may be employed individually to support various stones or may be employed together to support a large stone.

While I have described and illustrated several embodiments of my invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes, omissions, additions and substitutions may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, as set forth in the accompanying claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A machine for dressing elements to be faced and polished which includes, in combination, a rotatable disc having inner and outer peripheral edges, a plurality of pillars supported about the edge of said disc, arms slidable on said pillars for vertical and swinging movements, chucks for holding a work piece provided on the ends of said arms, and means for compensating for the weight of the work pieces held by the chucks.

2. A machine for dressing elements to be faced and polished which includes, in combination, a rotatable disc having inner and outer peripheral edges, a. plurality of pillars supported about the edge of said disc, arms slidable on said pillars for vertical and swinging movements, chucks for holding a work piece provided on the ends of said arms, means for compensating for the weight of the work pieces held by the chucks, and means for varying the compensating means to conform with difierent sizes of work pieces.

3. A machine for dressing elements to be faced and polished which includes, in combination, a rotatable disc having an inner and outer peripheral edge, a shaft extending through said disc and connected thereto, means for driving said shaft, collars mounted on said shaft for rotational movement relative thereto, means for oscillating said collars on said shaft, pillars about said disc having arms slidable and pivotal on said pillars, and interconnecting means provided between said arms and said collars by which the arms are oscillated relative to said disc.

4. A machine for dressing elements to be faced and polished which includes, in combination, a rotatable disc having an inner and outer peripheral edge, a shaft extending through said disc and connected thereto, means for driving said shaft, collars mounted on said shaft for rotational movement relative thereto, means for oscillating said collars on said shaft, pillars about said disc having arms slidable and pivotal on said pillars, interconnecting means provided between said arms and said collars by which the arms are oscillated relative to said disc, and means for regulating the position of the interconnecting means on the collars for eifecting a Variation in the operation of the arms.

5. A machine for dressing elements to be faced and polished which includes, in combination, a rotatable disc having inner and outer peripheral edges, a plurality of pillars supported about the edge of said disc, arms slidable on said pillars for vertical and swinging movements, chucks for holding a work piece mounted on the ends of said arms, and means for compensating for the weight of the work pieces held by the chucks.

6. A machine for dressing elements to be faced and polished which includes, in combination, a rotatable disc having inner and outer peripheral edges, a plurality of pillars supported about the edge of said disc, arms slidable on said pillars for vertical and swinging movements, chucks for holding a Work piece mounted on the ends of said arms, counterbalancing means on said arms to compensate for the Weight of the work pieces held by the chucks, and a swingable crane disposed above each arm and secured thereto to swing with said arm to regulate the degree of downward movement of the arm during the grinding operation.

ERNEST H. TRYSELL. 

